


kingdom come undone

by killerqueenwrites



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Canon but slightly to the left, Ducklings - Freeform, Fix-It, Gen, I'm so sorry, James "Rhodey" Rhodes Needs a Hug, Not Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Compliant, Teen for language, Temporary Character Death, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, Uncle Rhodey, god so much angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-31
Updated: 2020-07-31
Packaged: 2021-03-06 07:21:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 14,922
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25629625
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/killerqueenwrites/pseuds/killerqueenwrites
Summary: Rhodey’s properly met Peter Parker about ten and a half times, if he counts the shitshow that was Germany. His impression of the kid had been quiet, polite, a little nervous, and as enamoured with Tony as Tony was with him.So when he lands next to a red and blue figure struggling gracelessly out from under his parachute, spitting blue murder, he wonders for a second who the imposter is.au where Peter doesn't make it onto the ship, and it's Rhodey who has to deal with the aftermath
Relationships: James "Rhodey" Rhodes & Tony Stark, Peter Parker & James "Rhodey" Rhodes, Peter Parker & Tony Stark
Comments: 78
Kudos: 745
Collections: Avidreaders Avengers completed faves, Avidreaders Spiderman completed faves





	kingdom come undone

**Author's Note:**

> welcome to this fic that jess and i have been affectionately calling 'the hell baby' for about two weeks now. 14k words of angst and uncle rhodey. she started it. enjoy.
> 
> title from hoax by taylor swift

The first Rhodey hears of it is three things happening at once.

Pepper calls him. The TV cuts to a breaking news story. FRIDAY blares an alert.

It had been a normal day before that; he’d been holding down things at the Compound while Tony and Pepper were in the city. They’d gone on a jog together, if Tony’s last text was to be believed. Happy sent several long rants about the paparazzi in Central Park and the fact the kid’s tracker is moving when he’s supposed to be in school. Rhodey had laughed, written it off as a normal morning, and settled in for the day.

Until: Pepper calls him; the TV switches to a breaking news story; FRIDAY blares an alert.

_“Rhodey, there’s something – God, I think it’s a spaceship – and Tony’s not here, he went with some guy through a – a fucking portal–“_

_“–spaceship hovering above Greenwich Village has begun to leave, but not before two unidentifiable creatures wreaked havoc in the area–“_

_“Unit 17-A deployed: emergency. Unit 17-A has been deployed urgently–“_

_“–and_ Bruce _, Rhodey, Bruce was there – hang on, I’m going to call him–“_

_“–live images here, we can see Tony Stark’s Iron Man suit chasing after it into the atmosphere – did someone say Spider-Man was involved? Can we get confirmation on that?”_

_“Urgent: parachute on Unit 17-A deployed. Retrieval recommended.”_

“What’s that?” Rhodey says, feeling out of control for the first time in a long time. Like the ground is spiralling up to meet him whether he wants it to or not. “What’s 17-A?”

_“Nicknamed the Iron Spider, Colonel Rhodes. A nanotech suit for Spider-Man.”_

“The kid?” Rhodey says. “Okay, get me a suit. Estimated impact zone?”

_“Hoboken, New Jersey, barring any unexpected turbulence.”_

“Well,” Rhodey says, “we gotta get him outta _there_.”

FRIDAY pauses, then, _“I’ve lost contact with Boss.”_

“Shit,” Rhodey sighs. He knows without even asking: the idiot’s on that ship. He’s in space. “Okay, girl, one thing at a time. He’d never forgive us if we left his kid the wrong side of the Hudson.”

* * *

Rhodey’s properly met Peter Parker about ten and a half times, if he counts the shitshow that was Germany. His impression of the kid had been quiet, polite, a little nervous, and as enamoured with Tony as Tony was with him.

So when he lands next to a red and blue figure struggling gracelessly out from under his parachute, spitting blue murder, he wonders for a second who the imposter is.

“Kid,” he says, and Peter snaps to attention. His suit is metallic, reminiscent of Tony’s but form-fitting, flexible. “You hurt?”

“I was on the ship!” Peter cries. “And he – fucking asshole. Why’d he do that? I should be up there!”

“You should be in space?”

“Yes!”

“Like Tony would ever let that happen, kid, come on.” Rhodey helps him detach the last of the parachute straps. “We still got a situation here. Let’s go.”

Peter’s mask folds back into his suit seamlessly, revealing a blooming bruise on his cheek and barely held-back tears. “Is he really in space?”

“We think so, yeah.”

“Oh, my _God_.”

“Look, if anyone’s gonna be okay, it’s that bastard.”

“He’s got a wizard,” Peter offers.

“A wizard?”

“That’s what he said.”

“I mean, why the fuck not?” Rhodey mutters, and Peter cracks a smile. “Suit looks good.”

“It saved my life,” Peter says quietly, but doesn’t say more than that.

“We need to get back to the Compound, okay? We can do more there.”

Peter nods, shooting a web at Rhodey’s foot. “Also, I’m pretty sure I saw Bruce Banner.”

“Sounds about right for today, kid.”

* * *

By the time Rhodey gets back to the Compound, kid hanging out of his boot jet like a goddamn water-skier, Pepper is there. So is Happy. So is Bruce Banner.

“Oh, fuck me,” Rhodey says instantly. “Sorry – sorry, man, it’s good to see you.”

“Everyone’s had about the same reaction,” Bruce assures him. “Tony, these two, Thor–“

“Thor? Where’s Thor?”

“It’s a whole thing – I ran into him and Loki–“

“Loki?” Rhodey shakes his head. “Can you start from the beginning?”

“No, uh, not really. Me and the Hulk have been on not-so-great terms for a while. The important thing you need to know about is Thanos.”

“Thanos?” Peter says. “What – what is that?”

“It’s a who. He. Some kind of alien warlord. He invades planets, kills the inhabitants, and moves on to the next one.”

“So, Earth is next?” Happy says, hand drifting towards his gun. 

“No, not this time. He’s looking for the Infinity Stones.”

“Like Vision? That thing in his head? Isn’t that one?”

Bruce nods, then frowns. “Speaking of Vision, where the hell is he? Tony said he lost him.”

“He’s – sentient,” Rhodey says. “I don’t understand it, but you can’t just tell him to stay put.”

“Off-topic, gentlemen,” Pepper says. “Why was that ship in New York?”

“The wizard,” Peter says suddenly. “Mr Stark said they were trying to steal his necklace. Maybe that was one. Of the Stones.”

“Oh, terrific,” Happy mutters.

“If Vision’s still on Earth, they’re gonna come back for the Stone. Thanos is – the worst thing in this universe, maybe. And when I told Tony about him…” Bruce frowns.

“What?” Pepper says. “What happened?”

“He said ‘this is it’.”

Rhodey looks around at all of them: Peter, in one of the most advanced things Tony has ever made; himself, paralysed but for the genius of his friend; Bruce, who knows almost better than anyone how far Tony would go to protect Earth. The endgame, he’d said. Even then, he’d known.

“Well, you heard the man. We’re on high alert. We need to get in contact–“

“Uh.” Bruce pulls something out of his pocket. A busted-up, crappy cell phone. Tony’s cell phone. “I already called him. I called Steve.”

* * *

He’s in a holo-meeting, listening to Ross drone on about Spider-Man and accountability and global threats and fuck knows what else, when he hears Peter’s panicked voice calling for him. 

He turns and instantly comes face to face with Steve fucking Rogers. The man who drove a shield into Tony’s chest and left him to die in the cold.

But they’re here to help. And Tony needs all the help they can muster right now. So Rhodey takes a deep breath, calling all the resentment up – and lets it go.

_“You’ve got some nerve showing up here,”_ Ross growls.

“I’m not looking for forgiveness,” Rogers says, like the pompous asshole he is, “and I’m way past asking for permission. Earth just lost her best defender, so we’re here to fight. And if you wanna get in the way of that, we’ll fight you too.”

Ross sputters for a second before turning back to Rhodey. _“Arrest them, Colonel.”_

“With pleasure,” Rhodey says, and swipes the hologram away. The room is silent for a beat until he turns back to face the team with a rueful grin. “That’s a court martial.”

Natasha comes first, pulling him into a hug that’s surprising but not unwelcome, then Sam, and then he notices Vision at the back, leaning on Wanda, one hand clutching his side.

“Wow,” Rhodey says. “You guys…really look like crap.”

“Yeah, well, the hotels weren’t exactly five star,” Sam says with a smirk.

Two years on the run? Rhodey can’t even imagine. “Okay, there are some things you need to know. Don’t freak out. Um–“

“Bruce called us, we know he’s back,” Steve says.

“Right, that’s one thing. The other thing–“

“Is it the little pipsqueak who tried to stop us coming in here?” Sam says. “About as intimidating as a puppy.”

“Yeah, he’s…” Rhodey sighs. How does he explain what Tony and Peter are to each other?

“I’m Spider-Man.”

Everyone turns. Peter’s standing in the middle of the living room, arms folded, jaw set. 

“From the airport,” Sam says, uncomprehending. “Spider-dude, from the airport. The little shit who kicked ass and got his ass kicked. You’re him.”

Peter nods.

“How old…?” Steve starts, looking lost.

“I’m sixteen.”

Steve is gearing up for another lecture, Rhodey can feel it, so he quickly steps between them. “This is not a reflection on Tony, okay? The fact the kid is alive and not in space right now is a reflection on Tony.”

“Rhodey, he’s a child.”

“I’m not a child.”

“Kid–“

“ _Don’t_ call me that!” Peter snarls. Even Steve looks taken aback. “I don’t need lectures from someone who left their friend to freeze to death in a broken suit.”

“Peter, that’s enough,” Rhodey says firmly. “That’s not important right now.”

Peter subsides, staring at the floor, looking a little embarrassed, if anything.

“Right now, Tony’s in space with a wizard and a telekinetic alien who wants the wizard’s magic rock.”

“A Stone?” Vision asks, touching the one in his forehead.

“Yeah, probably. You know what? Conference room, five minutes. Clean up a little. Collect yourselves. We need a plan. Can you relay that to the others, Fri?”

_“Of course.”_

Everyone disperses, the room fills with quiet murmurs, and Rhodey goes to Peter.

“You good?”

He shakes his head. “Every so often, my danger sense – it keeps spiking, and I don’t know if it’s for me, or if Mr Stark is in trouble, and I just – I could be helping him right now.”

“Tony did what he thought was best, because he – he cares about you. A lot. And I’m scared too. It’s been thirty years, and he still scares the shit out of me with the crap he pulls, but he’s always fine.”

“But I should be–“

“How about you help us here, instead? Honorary Avenger.” It should be Tony here, being proud of him, helping him along, comforting him, but it’s not, so Rhodey’s going to do the best he can.

Peter nods, eagerness lighting up his face, and all Rhodey can see is a younger Tony.

* * *

Happy is already waiting with Pepper when they reach the conference room, and Peter peels away instantly to sit beside him. Rhodey ignores the little tug of jealousy in his chest; the kid knows Happy better, and all of them are going to do their damnedest to keep him safe regardless. Tony wouldn’t have it any other way.

“You good, kid?”

Peter mumbles something that sounds like, “I yelled at Steve Rogers,” and Happy barks out a laugh.

“Don’t worry about it. Probably did him good.”

The others trickle in, keeping to their side of the room. By the time Bruce arrives, there are two distinct groups, battle lines clearly drawn, Vision and Natasha bridging the gap.

“So Tony wasn’t kidding?” Bruce says. “You guys broke up, like – like some goddamn boyband?”

“It was more complicated than that,” Steve starts.

“Oh, really?” Happy snaps. “What’s so damn complicated about leaving your friend stranded in the Arctic Circle with no power–?”

“Gentlemen,” Vision says. “This is a reductive line of questioning, and not what we should be discussing at all. Now, since Thanos’ warriors failed to retrieve the Stone, we can only assume they will return, in far greater strength and numbers. We need a strategy.”

“We defend the Stone,” Steve says instantly.

Rhodey scoffs. “And take one of our strongest fighters off the field indefinitely? I don’t think so.”

“Is there a way…?” Pepper hesitates. “Any way we can be sure they won’t _ever_ get the Stone?”

“Precisely my thinking, Miss Potts.”

Something flits across Pepper’s face – nostalgia, maybe. Rhodey gets it; he misses Jarvis sometimes too.

“It must be destroyed,” Vision says.

“But it’s in your head,” Peter says, nonplussed.

“Indeed.”

“No.” Wanda is resolute, her expression daring anyone to try and argue with her. “Absolutely not.”

“We may need to look at this from a ‘greater good’ perspective.” 

“No,” Steve says. “We don’t trade lives.”

“Don’t we?” Peter mutters. God, he’s _so Tony_. “Look, if these Stones are so powerful, then destroying one will be…”

“Explosive,” Rhodey says.

“Yeah, let’s go with that. So, if we need to destroy it and we don’t want Vision attached to a bomb, we need to just take it out.”

“Take it out?” Bruce says. “It’s wired into the – the circuitry of his brain, I guess. It’s a part of him.”

“But only a part, right? Mr Stark showed me schematics – sorry, I just realised that’s like looking at your brain. Without consent. My bad. Anyway, there’s so much in there, it’s like five brains in one. Sure, the Stone is a big part, but there’s also the coding you guys did together, and the basic Ultron AI, and JARVIS. So, if we take the Stone out–“

“That’s all still Vision,” Bruce finishes. “That – that might work. Rhodey, where’d you find this kid?”

“He’s Tony’s,” Rhodey says, just as Peter says, “Queens.”

“Now we have a plan,” Natasha says, “is there any way we can actually do it? Can we call Helen Cho?”

“Oh.” Peter visibly deflates. “Didn’t get that far.”

“Oh, I’m sure we’ll think of _something_ ,” Pepper says, and her tone is almost pointed. “Any place we know that has better technology? Better knowledge of vibranium? Better experience with removing…unwanted extras from people’s heads?”

Silence. Sam looks shocked.

“He knew the whole time?” Steve asks quietly.

Pepper raises an eyebrow. 

“Right,” Rhodey says. “We better call King T’Challa.”

“Like, King T’Challa?” Peter says. “ _The_ King T’Challa. The cat guy. With the cool voice. King of Wakanda.”

“That’s the one, kid.”

“Holy shit, I’m going to Wakanda.”

Pepper meets Rhodey’s eyes over the kid’s head. A question. _What would Tony do?_

“Kid–“

“What?” Peter looks at him, at Happy, noting their frowns. “No, come on–“

“Peter,” Rhodey says in his best Colonel voice, “this isn’t your fight.”

“The _fuck_ it isn’t.”

“Hey–“

“I’m here, so I'm helping.”

“You’re here because Tony did everything in his power to keep you safe, and he would kill me if I let you–“

“You don’t have to _let_ me do anything. I’m coming.”

Rhodey sighs. “Peter–“

“Please.” Ah, so those are the puppy-dog eyes Tony complains about so often. “Mr Rhodes, please. I can help. I can fight. This is – the whole world is at risk.”

“I was gonna say you stick by me, you do everything I say, and you keep outta trouble.”

“Oh. In that case: sir, yes sir.”

Rhodey squints at him. “Tony ever done a paternity test on you?”

* * *

They split, like they were always going to have to.

Pepper and Happy are staying, holding down the fort, watching and listening with everything available to them in case Tony manages to get in touch. Peter and Rhodey are boarding the Quinjet and flying to Wakanda with the team.

“Be careful,” Happy tells the kid for the hundredth time. “You get so much as a bump on the head, and Tony’ll flip his shit when he gets back.”

_When. When he gets back._

“I will.” Peter shuffles his feet. “I, uh, called May. She’s not happy. But mostly relieved I’m not in space, I think.”

Shit, he’d forgotten all about the aunt. “Is this kidnapping?” Rhodey says. “Am I kidnapping a child right now? Isn’t that what taking a minor out of the country without their parents’ permission is called?”

“You don’t _not_ have her permission.”

“Fucking – Christ. Okay. Only because you’ll probably web yourself to the jet anyway.”

Pepper hugs the kid, gentle. “If Tony makes contact, we’ll hear it. You just focus on saving the world down here, and he can do it up there.”

“All right,” Rhodey says, “let’s move.”

* * *

Rhodey’s never been to Wakanda, but watching the wonder break over Peter’s face when the city appears through the barrier is almost as good as watching the sun glint off paradise.

“I’d go on the run if I could hide out here,” he murmurs, half to himself.

“Mr Stark would love this,” Peter breathes. 

“We’ll put it in the honeymoon folder, how about that?”

The kid laughs. After the stress and tension of the day, it’s a good sound. 

* * *

If Rhodey had thought Bruce Banner scrambling to keep up with Peter’s train of thought was good, it’s nothing on the devastatingly polite way Princess Shuri tells him, “I’m sure you did your best.”

He’s still laughing about it, and the bowing thing, when he links up with Sam as the rest of the team march towards the barrier with the Wakandan army behind them.

He’s torn. On one hand, he can do more, see more, be more use, from the air. On the other, he seems to be channelling the spirit of Tony because every instinct is screaming for him to stay by the kid or, barring that, wrap him in cotton wool and lock him in a basement until this shit is over.

Not that he hasn’t tried. He’d suggested, with a strong side of firm, that Peter stay in the lab, help Shuri if she needed, and act as the last line of defence in case something got too close to the Stone. It hadn’t gone down well.

Tony’s going to skin him and hang him by the nutsack.

“I got two heat signatures breaking through the treeline,” he says, watching as two figures emerge. Dark, walking with purpose.

_“They’re the ones we fought off in Edinburgh. One of them, anyway,”_ Natasha says grimly. _“Looks like they brought backup.”_

_“You think?”_ Sam mutters. 

Rhodey steals a glance back at the ships, at the destruction they’ve caused just by landing, as they loop around and circle over the waiting army. At least they can’t get through the barrier, but shit. This is about to be a real battle.

“How you doing, kid?” he asks. Steve, T’Challa and Natasha are moving forward, to talk, to negotiate, to threaten. 

_“All good.”_ There’s a determination in Peter’s voice he’s never heard before, a focus. He’s Spider-Man now.

“Good man. Stay alert.” Rhodey‘s gaze finds Peter in the front line, watching the advancing aliens, just in front of Bruce in the Hulkbuster, shoulder to shoulder with Barnes. 

Barnes, cured and free of everything HYDRA, apparently. Tony would be having a fucking field day right now, and by field day, Rhodey means apoplectic fit. But he trusts Shuri’s judgement (more than Steve’s) and Peter’s weird ability to sense trouble, so he keeps flying around like a circling vulture and lets Tony’s kid brush arms with the guy who, responsible or not, killed his parents.

(vultures are widely considered omens of death due to their ability to sense an impending battle and gather even before the fighting starts)

When did ‘the kid’ become Tony’s kid in his mind?

The Wakandan army bellows a battle cry. There’s movement in the trees.

_“Looks like we pissed her off,”_ Natasha says, and a swarm of creatures charges straight for the dome.

* * *

The worst part is the waiting, Rhodey decides. Watching the alien creatures throw themselves uselessly against the barrier, achieving nothing but their own death. But they have to wait, have to stall for time, to give Wanda as much of a chance to blow the Stone to hell as they can.

_“What’s their play?”_ Sam murmurs. _“They’re – less than cannon fodder.”_

One breaks through, followed by another, and suddenly there’s a whole line of them racing up the hill towards the waiting army, who react with lightning speed and activate their shields.

The aliens are hideous. The ugliest things Rhodey’s ever seen. Four arms, raw mottled flesh, long curved claws and teeth. And Peter’s on the ground with them.

“Arm heat-seeking weapons,” he tells his suit. “Fire.”

Sam’s there too, swooping close to the ground and spiralling up again, his Redwing drones slicing through alien after alien.

Rhodey banks, cutting as close to the shield as he dares. “All right, back up, Sam, or you’re gonna get your wings singed.” Without waiting to see if he’s been listened to, he releases a hail of bombs right where the barrier meets the ground. 

_“They’re going around,”_ Peter says sharply.

He’s right. The creatures are spreading out all along the base of the dome, some of them starting to race all the way around.

_“If those things circle around and get in behind us, there’s nothing between them and Vision,”_ Bruce says.

Steve looks straight ahead. _“Then we better keep them in front of us.”_

T’Challa radios in the order to open the barrier and Rhodey sighs. It’s going to be a long fucking day. _If you could see this, Tones, you’d kill me_.

“I got your back, kid,” he says.

_“Thanks, Rhodey.”_

The barrier opens. The creatures burst through. The army charges down the hill.

Three figures pull out in front – T’Challa in his black suit, Steve, and the red-blue-gold glint of the Iron Spider. Right. Enhanced kid.

Just when it seems like Peter’s going to run face first into one of the creatures – and Rhodey’s about to have a heart attack – he shoots a web and hops over the top of the forward line, flooring one further back with a single kick.

Okay. He can handle himself. Rhodey’s still going to be watching his every move. How does Tony do this on a regular basis?

* * *

It’s been hours when Rhodey realises they’re losing. Badly.

They’re all exhausted; his comms are silent except for ragged breathing and grunts of effort. Peter’s keeping out of the way, using his webs to do most of the fighting, but Rhodey can see the tiredness in his every movement. The aliens don’t stop coming.

He’s aiming his guns at a group of them converging on Natasha when something rams him in the side with a _thunk_ and knocks him so off-balance he hits the ground spinning.

_Not again._

_“Rhodey!”_ Peter yelps.

What hit him? Rhodey rolls over to see the two – the leaders strolling their way through the barrier, the larger one carrying a huge axe.

“I’m good. Stay where you are, Pete!” A red flash swings through Rhodey’s peripherals. “Stay away from them!”

Of course he doesn’t listen. He’s more Tony than if he were his kid. The axe flies through the air, smacks Peter square in the chest, and sends him through a graceless arc that lands right in the middle of a snarling circle of alien dogs.

“No–!” Rhodey yells, but something leaps on his back as he tries to stand, dragging him back down, scrabbling at his suit. “Someone get to the kid!”

_“There’s too many of them!”_ Bruce cries. Whether he’s responding or just panicking – Rhodey can’t tell.

A blast of white light hits the ground. Aliens go flying in every direction. Rhodey blinks, trying to clear his vision, and sees Peter, Steve, Natasha, Bruce, all struggling to their feet. 

Thor steps off the still-smouldering rune he’s carved into the grass, lightning sparking across his armour, down his fingers, across the axe in his hand. Two more follow him, and they look like a raccoon and a tree and nothing really surprises Rhodey anymore.

_“Okay,”_ Peter whispers, _“that’s awesome.”_

“Bring. Me. Thanos!” Thor bellows, and charges. The two leaders stop their advance, looking uncertain for the first time.

Maybe they’re not losing so badly after all.

* * *

Or maybe they are.

The trees outside the dome start to fall, all collapsing in a line as if something huge is breaking through the forest. The battle seems to still, if only for a moment, as everyone turns to look. Rhodey regrets looking.

“Kid, you web yourself up here. We’re keeping out of the way of these things.”

_“Low on webs,”_ comes Peter’s choppy answer. He’s out of breath. _“Gotta save ‘em. Sorry.”_

“Kid, get your ass up here–“

The giant wheels break through the dome.

_Goddammit_. “Focus that fire on the left flank, Sam.”

_“Got it!”_

One wheel swerves, hits the ground, explodes. Super. Only twenty more to go.

Wanda comes out of nowhere, engulfed in red light, eyes glowing, and lifts – throws them sideways and into the ground. Shit, he forgot how powerful she was.

But if Wanda’s here, then she’s not with Vision. 

“How long until that Stone’s out?” Rhodey calls. No answer.

_“Shuri?”_ T’Challa demands. 

Something glints in the corner of Rhodey’s eye, the sparkle of shattered glass. Vision flies through the window of Shuri’s lab, toppling towards the ground along with another figure. Shit.

_“Got a Vision situation here!”_ Sam calls, and Steve yells something into the comms that’s almost drowned out as Thor rips through one of the landing ships, then another, at terrifying speed, a ball of lightning.

“I’m on it!” Rhodey says, but something snags his ankle, drags him down. As he falls, he sees Wanda on the ground, a dark shape looming over her, and then he’s lost in a sea of alien dogs, fighting to keep his head above water.

* * *

The air changes, like a sudden drop in pressure. Ears ringing. The world closing in.

Peter, halfway through helping Rhodey to his feet, stiffens, winces.

“What is it?”

“Something’s bad – really bad. Do you think Mr Stark–?”

_“Everyone on my position,”_ Steve says sharply. _“We have incoming.”_

“Let’s get to the trees,” Rhodey says. Tony has to be okay, he has to be, but he doesn’t have the mental room for that right now.

_“Cap,”_ Bruce says _, “that’s him.”_

Thanos. Thanos is here. 

_“Eyes up, stay sharp!”_

“Hop up, Pete,” Rhodey says, and the kid doesn’t waste a second, jumping on Rhodey’s shoulders as he takes off. The close of trees is flashing with strange light, red, purple, blue. It feels alien. It feels wrong to even look at.

Then Rhodey sees him: tall, enormous, striding with purpose. A gauntlet on one hand. Five Stones. All he needs is Vision’s.

Does that mean…Tony failed? Did he lose? Did he _die_?

“Don’t mind me!” Peter yells, and his weight disappears from Rhodey’s back. “Just dropping in!”

_Shit, got distracted_. “Peter–!”

Before he can even land a kick, Thanos snatches him out of the air, one huge hand wrapped around his throat with ease, his face twisted into a vicious snarl.

“Insect,” he growls, and tosses Peter to the side as if he’s nothing. The kid hits a tree with a pained yelp and slumps to the ground.

“Son of a bitch!” Rhodey snaps. “Fire everything.”

Thanos keeps walking, shrugging off missiles and grenades like flies, and points his clenched fist in Rhodey’s direction. The suit warps, twisting in on itself.

Pain, all up his spine. Trapped. _Can’t move can’t move can’t move–_

Thanos launches him into a rock and he blacks out.

* * *

Rhodey comes to just in time to hear Thor’s roar, or maybe because of it. A gust of wind nearly knocks him flat again, but he clambers to his feet, wincing as his braces snag with every movement. He struggles out of his warped suit, claustrophobic at the feeling of metal encasing him, and sighs in relief when he’s free.

There’s dead silence for a second, and then Okoye starts screaming. 

“Steve?” says Barnes’ voice, but by the time Rhodey turns, there’s nothing there, just a gun on the ground. Steve walks towards it, falls to his knees, brushes his fingers through the dirt and – is that ash?

“Sam?” Rhodey yells as he turns. “Sam!” No answer. _The kid!_ “Peter!”

“What’s happening?” comes a shaking voice, and he whips his head around to see the kid, bloodied and bruised but still there.

“You’re good, kid,” Rhodey says, but then Peter holds out his trembling hands and they can both see the way his fingers are starting to flake.

_No. No no no._

“What’s happening?” he asks again, and he sounds so young, a child asking for reassurance. “Rhodey, I – I don’t know what’s happening–“ He starts to stumble forward, and Rhodey catches him when his legs give way.

“Hey, stay with us, kid–“

“I don’t wanna go!” Peter cries, his hands scrabbling at Rhodey’s back – but it’s growing weaker every second. He’s sagging, as if his legs can’t hold him any longer. “I don’t wanna go, please, I don’t – I don’t want to–“

They both fall, Peter landing on his back, Rhodey cradling him as best he can. He dares to look down the kid’s body, and, hardened war veteran and all, nearly throws up. No legs. He has no legs.

“I want Mr Stark,” Peter whimpers, almost to himself, then, “I want Mr Stark, please!”

“You’re okay, kid, it’s okay.” Rhodey doesn’t know why it’s taking so long, when the others seemed to be gone in an instant. _Please tell me this doesn’t hurt_. 

Peter’s chest is starting to disintegrate, but his little cries for Tony don’t stop. Rhodey shushes him, cradles his head.

“You did good, kid. You did so good.”

“‘M sorry.”

“You have nothing to be sorry for, Pete, nothing.”

“Mr Stark,” the kid breathes, eyes fixed on the sky, and then he’s gone.

Ash. Dust.

It hits Rhodey then. It’s over. They lost. He won. The kid is gone.

Thanos won, and he lost Tony’s kid.

* * *

The procession off the jet is the worst few steps of Rhodey’s life. The lights of the Compound are bright, which suggests maybe someone’s still alive in there – but that could just be FRIDAY, waiting for someone to come and give her a purpose again.

Then he sees them. Pepper and Happy, clutching each other’s hands so tight their knuckles are white. Thank _God_ Pepper’s alive.

“Rhodey,” she gasps, starting forward. “Everyone just – the staff all started – the _ash_ , Rhodey.”

“I know,” he says.

“Rhodes.” Happy isn’t looking at him, but at the space beside him. The missing person. “Rhodey…”

“Oh, no,” Pepper whispers. “Oh. Not the kid, Rhodey.”

Rhodey looks down, at his shirt, his hands. He has Peter on his shirt. 

The kid is gone. They don’t know if Tony’s alive, if he disappeared with everyone else, if something else entirely got him. 

“What happened?” Happy says roughly, as if he’s trying not to cry. 

Rhodey watches the rest of the team – the remnants of the team – make their way towards the Compound, limping, staggering. “We lost.”

* * *

He finds himself sitting against a wall in some hallway of the Compound – they all look the goddamn same. Head hanging down, arms resting on his knees. Too exhausted to do anything else.

(the counts keep coming in, state after state, country after country, countless people missing, dead, vanished)

_I want Mr Stark, please._

Happy joins him, sliding down the wall, expensive suit rumpled, and very deliberately avoids looking at the ash on Rhodey’s shirt. “I’ve been trying to call May Parker.”

“Oh, shit!” Rhodey says with feeling. He hadn’t even thought–

“Couldn’t get through. Cell towers are down, but her phone is linked up to our network, so that shouldn’t…and New York has gone to shit, so I’ve been calling and texting and leaving messages – saying to tell me where she is, to get somewhere safe, to get out of the city and upstate if she can.” Happy clears his throat. “I don’t think she can.”

And somewhere deep down Rhodey is thankful he doesn’t have to look a grieving mother in the face.

* * *

Three weeks pass.

Carol Danvers was a fucking legend in the Air Force, a tale of determination and bravery and ultimately sacrifice, and upon finding out she’s alive and an alien superhero, Rhodey – feels nothing.

He thinks. 

He thinks about Peter, about the last thing he said, the way he sighed Tony’s name, as if being beckoned somewhere else, by someone.

He wonders if Tony and Peter found each other, wherever they are. They deserve it. 

No. Tony can’t be dead

(but he might be)

but that means he’s alive and Peter isn’t. He survived. That means he’s in space somewhere, alone maybe, not having any idea who’s alive and who vanished. He might be hoping his family all made it.

He doesn’t know. He doesn’t know about Peter. 

“Rhodey? Rhodey!” Pepper jogs up to him, desperate hope on her face. “We picked up a distress signal. Carol went to check it out. We think – we think we found him.”

* * *

The blue alien helps Tony down the ramp, and despite Rhodey’s best efforts, Steve gets there first. Tony looks past him, sees Pepper, and sags with relief.

“Oh, my God,” they’re both saying, hugging, and when Tony pulls away, he’s looking again, looking for something.

“Tones,” Rhodey breathes. He looks half-dead, emaciated and pale.

“Rhodey,” Tony says, and he’s still looking. He sees Happy, and _keeps looking_. “Rhodey, the kid–“

Rhodey closes his eyes so he doesn’t have to watch Tony crumble.

“No. No, _no_ – please tell me–“

“We need to get him inside,” someone says. 

“Rhodey,” Tony says again, begging, as if that will make it any less true. “Not him, please tell me – not him.”

“I’m sorry, Tony.”

“No, he’s just – he landed somewhere, and he can’t connect to Karen for whatever reason – we need to find him, we need to–“

“He was with me, Tony.” 

“No, no, no–“

“I’m sorry, man.”

“Not him,” Tony wheezes, and if Rhodey and Pepper hadn’t been holding him, he would have collapsed.

“He needs medical attention,” the blue alien says, and the way she’s hovering is almost protective. 

“Yeah,” Rhodey agrees, catching Bruce’s eye over Tony’s head. “Let’s go, man. Inside, come on.”

“Peter,” Tony whispers. A father calling for his son. 

_I want Mr Stark_. 

* * *

Tony, predictably, is pissed. 

He’s tired. He’s malnourished. He’s looked Death in the face and apparently got his ass beat. He’s been stabbed. And he’s just found out his kid is gone.

So when Steve, despite Rhodey’s warning glances, despite the way they both flinch when the image of Peter Parker flashes in front of them, presses Tony on what exactly happened and where he was and where Thanos might have gone, the following explosion is entirely unsurprising.

Rhodey had half-expected it to be directed at him; he’d been the one left behind, the one Tony would have trusted to look after the kid, and he couldn’t even do that. But no, it’s justified fury at Steve with a side of classic Stark self-loathing.

“Sit down, you made your point,” he murmurs.

He has not made his point. Tony delivers a broken, devastating _fuck you_ and _I told you so_ and then instantly passes out.

“Dammit, man,” he breathes. Danvers helps him pick Tony up and place him back in his wheelchair, by which time Pepper has appeared and kept everyone else at bay with a fiery glare.

“Let’s get him back to the Medbay,” she says. “He needs rest and time to get over his loss, not to rehash what he’s been through.”

Steve still looks dumbstruck. “We just need some information–“

“Then why don’t you ask me?” It’s the blue alien – Nebula, Rhodey thinks her name is. “No one knows Thanos better than I do.”

“That’s what I been saying,” the raccoon mutters, “but no, interrogate the skeleton who lost his kid. No one listens to me. No one listens to the Build-a-Bear.” He pauses. “The fuck is a Build-a-Bear anyway?”

Rhodey leaves them to it and pushes Tony’s chair out of the room.

* * *

The Stones are gone. He can’t feel even a fleeting second of relief or vindictive satisfaction when Thanos dies.

* * *

He’s making his way to Tony’s room in the medical wing 

(and how many times did he walk this way with Tony, assuring him the kid was going to be fine?)

when he sees Happy standing outside, face white, lips pressed together. Through the glass, Pepper is perched on Tony’s bed, both of them sobbing. Full-body sobs, tears running down their cheeks.

“What?” he asks. “What is it!”

Happy clears his throat. “She’s pregnant.”

It takes Rhodey a minute to understand. “Pepper? Pepper is pregnant?”

“Yeah.”

“Oh, Jesus.”

“Yeah.”

Rhodey wonders if he really did die when Thanos snapped, and what he might have done wrong in his life, because this – this is hell.

* * *

Pepper and Tony’s wedding is a quiet, sombre affair. 

Happy officiates while Nebula and Natasha watch silently. Rhodey doubles as best man and ring-bearer.

No one talks about who else should’ve been there, the space Tony leaves almost unconsciously. The missing kid.

* * *

“I’m going to start counselling,” Tony says one day, apropos of nothing. He’s up and walking now, looking a little healthier, but there’s still something missing. Like part of him has died.

“That’s good,” Rhodey says. Probably should’ve started it ten years ago, but baby steps.

“And parenting classes.”

“Yeah?”

“Pep’s been doing some reading, and one of the things is – in families where there’s a child that – where they’ve lost – you know.”

There’s the grief and the guilt all over again. 

“Uh, apparently the other kids feel like they have this, this impossible standard to live up to, and that builds resentment. And that was me with Rogers and my dad, to a T, and I’m not doing that to this kid. I won’t.”

“You’re better than Howard, Tones, without even trying.”

“But I want them to _know_ him,” Tony says, as if he didn’t hear Rhodey. A hand grasps his sleeve, begging him to understand. “He deserves that. He deserves to be known, to be remembered. That’s – that’s the fucking least I can do for him.”

“You’re gonna do great,” Rhodey says. “You’re gonna be a good dad, Tony.”

* * *

Weeks pass. Pepper, with Happy’s help, starts looking for a house to move to, a house her and Tony are going to raise their child in. Tony avoids everyone and practically lives in his workshop with only the bots for company. 

It’s when Rhodey’s making his way down with a sandwich one afternoon that he hears the shouting.

“Well, one of you must have! How many times have I told you not to go over there–?”

A series of melancholy beeps.

“Useless piece of shit.”

“Hey,” Rhodey says, trying to keep any judgement out of his voice, “what’s going on, man?” 

Tony looks equal parts furious and devastated when he rounds on Rhodey. “They touched his things!”

“What? Who did?”

“No one else comes down here! It must have been them!”

“Hey, slow down. Tell me what’s going on here.”

Tony gestures to a desk tucked in the corner, covered in scattered sheets of paper and abandoned vials. Scratchy but neat writing. A familiar-looking device – a webshooter. So that’s where the kid used to work. 

“Oh,” Rhodey says. “Oh, Tones. It’s okay. It’s all still there, right?”

“Someone moved it.” Tony’s voice is strangled. “His – his webshooter. I thought – he’d been here, and then I remembered – and _fuck_ , Rhodey.”

“Okay, come here.” Rhodey puts the plate down and lets Tony collapse into his arms. “It’s okay, it’s okay.” It’s not, but what else can he say?

“I miss him,” Tony says, voice thick. “It – it hurts how much.”

Rhodey swallows. “I’m sorry I couldn’t save him–“

“No,” Tony says, and clings tighter, “no, no, Rhodey, it wasn’t your fault. It wasn’t.”

“He was your kid, and all I had to do was watch him for you. One damn job.” 

“No,” Tony says fiercely, and then, “I don’t think I can live here anymore.”

“That’s okay.”

“He’s fucking everywhere. In the city, too. They love him.”

“Yeah.” Rhodey sighs. “If anyone’s earned the quiet life, it’s you, man.”

“Feels like giving up.”

“It’s not that,” Rhodey says. “It’s just living.”

Dum-E nudges Tony in the shoulder and they break apart with a weak laugh. Rhodey pats the bot, and he seems to trill happily.

“All right, boy,” Tony says. “That’s far from the worst thing I’ve called you. Stop with the pity party.” He pauses. “Peter was his favourite. That why you were at his desk, hm? You waiting for him to come back.”

Dum-E beeps sadly. Only Tony could make a bot like that.

“Sorry, Dum-E. Just us now.” Tony rubs him absentmindedly, staring somewhere just to the left of Peter’s desk. “Just us.”

* * *

It’s months before they even think about venturing into Queens.

Pepper had the presence of mind to think ahead and switched the Parker’s lease to her bank account along with a hefty bonus to ensure the landlord kept it secure. Good news, and bad news.

Good: the apartment will be unopened and safe, all their belongings intact.

Bad: it will look exactly like it did before the Snap, when both its residents were alive.

“I’m coming,” Tony says when Pepper gently suggests it’s time to clear out the apartment.

“Oh, honey – I didn’t mean you had to.”

“Pep, you’re six months pregnant.”

“Rhodey can help.”

“I can handle clearing out an apartment,” Tony says before Rhodey can jump in. “Please, I – I want to do this.”

“Okay,” Pepper says gently. “Okay, we’ll go tomorrow.”

* * *

“How’s it going in there?” 

Pepper looks up with a weak smile. “Almost done packing these clothes. You?”

“Done with the kitchen. There was something alive in that fridge, I swear.”

“So kitchen’s done. Living room’s done – and I’ve never seen so many books. May’s room is nearly done.” Pepper looks at Rhodey. “Is Tony…?”

“Yeah, he’s in the kid’s room.”

“Okay. Would you mind…?”

“Yeah.” Rhodey makes his way down the hall, passing Happy carrying a box of towels from the bathroom. He pauses outside the second bedroom, takes a deep breath, knocks. “Tones?”

“I’m good.”

“Good, my ass,” Rhodey mutters, and opens the door. 

Tony’s sitting on the bottom bunk, something red and blue on his lap. It’s like a shitty knockoff of a Spider-Man suit, but burnt and torn – are those bloodstains?

“Christ, what happened to that?”

“He crashed a plane in it,” Tony says in a worryingly level voice.

“He what?”

“When I took his suit. He saved that transport plane in his goddamn pyjamas. Nearly died. And then,” Tony scoffs, “then he forgave me.”

“‘Course he did. Kindest kid ever. And he loved you.”

Tony sniffs, fixing a smile on his face, and digs into one of the boxes. “Hey, look at these.” He holds up a little plastic Iron Man mask and two toy repulsors. Too small for a teenager. “Bet he killed it on Hallowe’en one year.”

“Yeah, or every year.” Rhodey turns to the kid’s dresser, starting to collect the framed photos. He picks up one. Shit. “Or maybe a Stark Expo.”

“Huh?” Tony takes the picture – May Parker, a man Rhodey doesn’t recognise, and a younger Peter in his Iron Man costume outside the 2010 Stark Expo. Pre-Hammerbots, obviously. “No. No way.”

“What?”

“I saved a kid,” Tony says, “in a mask like that. Bot had locked on, thought it was me. Nearly killed him.”

“You think it was him?”

“Shit.” And there’s tears running down Tony’s cheeks now. “Who else would be that stupidly fucking brave?”

“Stayed on-brand his whole life, at least.” Tony saved Peter so many times, over and over, and it was Rhodey who lost him. “We’re nearly done with the rest. If you need help, let us know.”

Tony grabs his hand and squeezes, just for a second.

* * *

When Morgan Stark is born, she cries. Pepper cries. Rhodey and Happy, once they’re let in the room, cry too. Tony does, but quietly, gently. He’s smiling properly for the first time in a long time.

“You wanna meet your uncles?” he murmurs, and holds her out to Rhodey. “Hold her head.”

And Rhodey freezes up. Remembers the last time Tony trusted him. Remembers the last time he held one of his kids. “Uh, Hap? Wanna go first?”

Happy gives him a sideways look but accepts the baby. She looks even tinier in his huge arms. “Never held a baby before.” He clears his throat. “She supposed to be this small?”

“We’ll blink and she’ll be twice the size,” Tony says softly. “Rhodey? Wanna meet her?”

“I, uh, you sure?”

“‘Course I’m sure. Support her head – like Happy is.”

Rhodey swallows back a protest and takes the baby in his arms. Suddenly, he can’t help smiling. “Hey there, little lady. Nice to finally meet you. You got a hell of a mom, you know that? Hell of a dad, too.”

“Don’t build up her expectations,” Tony says with a grin. 

“Look, man, I gotta be the cool uncle.”

“Do you have ideas for middle names?” Happy asks, a little gruff, and clears his throat.

“Yeah, a couple.” Tony glances back at Pepper, already half-asleep, but she cracks open one eye with a tired smile.

“I like yours,” she whispers.

“I like yours.”

“Let’s do this democratically,” Rhodey says. “Present your suggestions.”

“Morgan Hope Stark,” Tony says, and hesitates. Pepper takes his hand.

“I like that,” Happy murmurs. “What’s the other one?”

“Morgan Parker Stark.”

It’s Rhodey’s turn to clear his throat, swallow hard, bite back tears. The baby sleeps on, oblivious. “That’s – that’s perfect. Suits her, I think.”

Tony nods. “Me too. What d’you think, Hap?”

Happy doesn’t answer, too busy blowing his nose and not very discreetly wiping his eyes.

“I broke Happy,” Tony says, sounding alarmed. 

* * *

Rhodey’s had nightmares before, but never anything like this. 

He sees Peter, and loses him all over again. Sometimes it’s Tony, vanishing in his arms, before his eyes. Tony, stabbed through the stomach out of Rhodey’s reach. The smell of death in a crippled spaceship.

He’s sitting in the kitchen at five in the morning, cradling his cup of coffee, when Natasha walks in.

“Can’t sleep?”

“Could ask you the same thing.” Rhodey takes a sip. “Bad dreams.”

Natasha makes a noise of understanding and hops up on the counter, sitting cross-legged. “I see it. All the time. I wasn’t even – conscious, when it happened.” She smirks without humour. “Turns out I have a more vivid imagination than I thought.”

Rhodey grunts. “Like seeing – seeing the kid go wasn’t enough. I got all sorts of things rattling around up there. You’d think I was on that planet with Tony sometimes.”

“Sam,” Natasha agrees. “No one saw him go.”

God, at least the kid had Rhodey.

“And Wanda.” Natasha bites the inside of her cheek. “Clint asked about her. Last thing I heard before he dropped off the face of the earth. Might have been the final straw. She wasn’t his kid, but…” 

“Peter wasn’t Tony’s,” Rhodey says, “but he was, too. Where it mattered.”

“Yeah.”

“It’s a girl, by the way.”

“Hm?”

“Baby Stark. Pepper and Tony had a girl. Morgan Parker Stark.”

“Parker, huh?” Natasha smiles, softens. “Give them my love.”

“Give it yourself.”

“I have a lot to do here. Managing the Avengers, or what’s left.”

“What _is_ left?” Rhodey says. “There’s no Avengers. No team. The world doesn’t want us. We failed them.”

“Maybe they don’t want us now, but one day. The world’s gone to shit. And there’s always something worse. Something bigger. I don’t think we’re done yet.”

“I wish I had your faith.”

Natasha slips off the counter with barely a sound. “What else do I have?”

* * *

It’s the night before the anniversary when Tony calls and asks the question Rhodey’s been dreading.

_“I want to see it.”_

“No, you don’t.”

_“Don’t tell me what I want,”_ Tony snaps. Morgan is barely three months old, and the strain is evident in his voice. Sleep deprivation is a killer. _“I want to see how – I want to see what happened.”_

“Tony, I’m asking you not to. You’ve been doing so well. I don’t want this to – set you back.”

_“I wasn’t there for him,”_ Tony says, and desperation claws at every word. _“I should’ve been with him.”_

“Tony.” Rhodey has it replay in his head every day against his will. The crying. The begging. The slowest of slow ends. _I want Mr Stark_. “Please. Please don’t watch it. For everyone’s sake, especially his.”

Tony is silent, then Rhodey says the thing he’ll regret forever.

“It wasn’t good, Tony.”

He can practically hear the decision in Tony’s head, the sealed deal. Click. Course set for self-destruction. 

“Tones–“

_“Bye, Rhodey.”_

* * *

Rhodey knows it’s a bad day when he pulls up to the lakehouse and it’s FRIDAY who lets him in the door.

Pepper is sitting on the floor, watching Morgan on her playmat, clutching a cup of coffee. She smiles wanly when she sees him. “Hi.”

“Hey.”

“It’s a bad day,” she says. “I mean, of course. I knew it would be.”

Rhodey sits on the couch behind her. “One year. Shit.”

“Sometimes I’m cooking and I turn to ask the kid if he wants anything and–“ Pepper catches her breath. “I know Tony does the same in the lab.”

Rhodey leans down to pick up a rattle and dangles it over Morgan. “He out there now?”

“Since last night.” 

“I’ll go check on him,” Rhodey says, because this is his fault. Everything. All of it.

“Rhodey,” Pepper says, “are you okay?”

_Well_. “Guess I’m always gonna be wondering what we could’ve done differently,” he says after a pause. “If we could’ve won. If the kid might be…”

“We could waste our lives on what-ifs, I think.” Pepper takes a sip of her coffee. “We have to build something out of the scraps. The world keeps turning, and it hurts, but we need to find a way. And I think we will, eventually.”

“Eventually,” Rhodey agrees. “I better go see if he’s okay.”

“Thank you,” Pepper says. “Say _see you later_ to Uncle Rhodey, Morgie.”

Morgan squeals.

“Good enough,” Rhodey says with a grin, and makes his way towards Tony’s garage lab. 

* * *

_“I want Mr Stark – I want Mr Stark, please! Please, Mr Stark, Mr Stark–“_

Rhodey hears himself shush the kid, a pathetic attempt to distract and calm. Tony watches as the dust creeps up Peter’s chest, as his eyes lose their spark, quickly but painfully slow at the same time. 

And then the kid apologises, and it’s like Tony breaks all over again.

“Turn it off, FRIDAY,” Rhodey says quietly.

“No.” Tony’s voice is unrecognisable. “Play it again.”

“Tones–“

“Again.”

_“What’s happening?”_

_“You’re good, kid.”_

_“What’s happening? Rhodey, I – I don’t know what’s happening–“_

Tony watches it again. Again. Again. Rhodey sits with him, endures it again, again, again, because what else can he do?

* * *

Natasha asks for his help tracking down Barton, and Rhodey welcomes the escape, welcomes the excuse to give Tony space and not have to think about how utterly he failed his best friend.

And so Rhodey sees firsthand how humanity dies. 

(if not for a flip of a coin, a roll of some cosmic dice, this could’ve been Tony: a man who had lost the love of his life and a child, gone completely mad)

Killing sprees across all seven continents – gangs, traffickers, drug lords, all dead. Horrifically, messily, in most cases. No easy in-and-out. Not done for the greater good, but for the sake of killing.

Rhodey defers his ‘help’ to drones and satellites after three months.

* * *

“I will pay you,” Tony had said, “I will buy you a car. I’ll buy two cars. Just–“

“I’m your friend, man, you don’t need to pay me for babysitting.”

So here Rhodey is, baby strapped to his chest. There’s milk in the fridge for him to heat up, apparently. Food in the cupboards. Pepper and Tony had needed a day off, although if he knows them, it will actually be spent doing work. Just without a crying baby.

In fairness, she’s quiet at the moment. Not so much as a grizzle, just the occasional inquisitive squeak. 

“Shall we go outside?” he says. “The great outdoors? Or maybe you see it every day and it’s boring. Whatever. It’s new to me. Lake and everything.”

Morgan doesn’t reply. Of course not. She’s six months old.

They end up sitting on the dock, watching the breeze gently ruffle the trees on the other side of the lake. It’s nice out here. Quiet. Peaceful. Life moves slower. He can see why Tony likes it.

“You’re living the good life, huh, little lady?” Rhodey says. Morgan tugs at one of the buttons on his shirt, seemingly engrossed. “You better not swallow that. Yeah, this is different. Nice change of pace. Can see why your dad moved here. Bet the kid would’ve loved it–“

He breaks off sharply. He hasn’t ever just – _talked_ about the kid so casually, not since…

_Oh, what the hell_. “Yeah, do you know about Spider-Man? Your dad tell you about him? He said he wanted to. Wouldn’t blame him if he hasn’t, though. That’s okay. I can do it for him.”

Morgan’s watching him now, something like curiosity in her eyes.

“So,” Rhodey starts. “Spider-Man was maybe the coolest hero ever.”

He sits there, Morgan in her sling, listening with as much rapt attention as a six-month-old can muster, until she decides it’s lunchtime and bursts into tears.

* * *

“Tony?”

The lakehouse is dark when Rhodey pulls up outside, Pepper’s car gone. Instant alarm bells.

“FRIDAY, where is he?”

_“Boss is currently lying on the floor behind the couch.”_

“Tones,” Rhodey says with a sigh, and flicks on a lamp. Yeah, there he is, flat on his back and smelling of whiskey. “Are you drinking again?”

Tony peels open one eye and hiccups. “My bad.”

“Where’s Pepper?”

“Told her to take Morgan out for the day.” Tony sits up, bleary-eyed. “It’s a bad day.”

“I know,” Rhodey says gently. That’s why he’s here. “Let’s get you on the couch.”

“Woulda been eighteen today. Big birthday.” Tony’s drink comes with him. “But no. I was too slow and too fucking dumb, and – and now he’s gone. Poof. Dust. I’m a – a goddamn failure. Failure of a parent. Shouldn’t be allowed a second chance.”

“You can’t blame yourself, Tony.”

“Why not?” Another hiccup. Another drink poured. “Stark special. You don’t understand, Rhodey, we had him. On that planet. We had him, and we nearly got the gauntlet away from him, and – and then we didn’t. And I got stabbed. And the wizard gave up the Stone. For me. Why? Why’d he do that? Peter could be here right now – half the fucking universe could be alive. And I’m here instead.”

“Yeah, you think you were the only one that failed?” Rhodey retorts. “We had most of the Avengers, a god, and the whole of Wakanda behind us. He walked right through us like we were nothing. _Nothing_. I barely got a shot in before he tossed me aside. I should’ve done more.” He swallows. “I should’ve saved him, Tones.”

Tony doesn’t say anything, just holds out his glass. _Fuck it_ , Rhodey thinks, and downs it in one shot.

“I don’t blame you.”

“I do.”

Tony sighs, pours another glass. They pass it back and forth in silence, throats burning with each gulp. 

“Sometimes I wish he’d managed to stay on that ship,” Rhodey says. He’s fuzzy around the edges. “I wish he‘d been with you. You would’ve known what to do. You would’ve brought out the best in him, made him feel safe. You – maybe he wouldn’t have been so scared.”

“Dying in space? On some strange planet surrounded by strangers.” Tony puts the glass down, hard, clumsy. “Can’t imagine anything worse. Least I knew – he’d have someone to look after him. You or Pep or Happy.”

“Sorry I couldn’t keep him safe for you.”

“Not your fault,” Tony mutters.

“No, ‘cause – ‘cause you _trusted_ me. And I just…royally fucked up.” Rhodey knows it’s the alcohol making him say this – Tony gets the good stuff – but he ploughs ahead anyway, giving voice to things he’s barely even thought to himself. “I used to be scared to hold Morgan. I used to wonder why you trusted me with her.”

“‘Cause you’re my best friend,” Tony says, and he looks genuinely upset. “I’d trust you with anything.”

Rhodey groans. He’s not getting it. “And you did. And I failed.”

“But that wasn’t your fault.”

“I lost your kid.”

“No, you didn’t.”

“Damn.” Rhodey wipes his face. It’s wet all of a sudden. “When did we become sad drunks?”

“It’s our age.”

“Maybe.” Rhodey picks up the glass and raises it in a halfhearted, ham-fingered toast. “Happy birthday, Pete.”

* * *

Somehow, another year passes. Morgan turns one. They all have bad days sometimes, but they become fewer and further apart. The lakehouse becomes a place of tranquillity, peace, quiet.

Morgan’s eyes change colour. It’s expected; she’d been born with blue eyes, but so are most white babies. By the time she’s a year old, they’re a deep brown.

Rhodey sees Tony in those eyes. Sometimes he sees Peter too.

* * *

“The fuck is that?”

“What does it look like, platypus?”

“A goddamn llama.”

“Alpaca, actually, but close.”

“You’ve done it,” Rhodey says. Years of weird shit and he’s finally defeated. “You’ve become the reclusive weirdo billionaire. It’s happened.”

“Morgan loves him.” Tony says, unabashed. “His name is Gerald.”

“Right. Of course it is.”

Tony grins, real humour on his face for the first time in what seems like forever.

* * *

Tony doesn’t wear sharply-pressed three-piece suits anymore, or greased-stained shirts. He lives in comfortable jeans, soft sweaters. He wields bottles and spoonfuls of mushed food like a pro. Rhodey had thought Iron Man had looked good on him, but fatherhood suits him much better.

“Come in,” he says dramatically, Morgan balanced on his hip. “She’s decided it’s not bedtime yet.”

“How’s she _decided_ that? You’re in charge.”

“No. No no no. I thought people were exaggerating about the terrible twos, but here we are. She says no bedtime, so I’m trying trickery.” He gestures to the TV.

“ _Empire Strikes Back_?”

“Pete’s favourite, so of course, it’s her favourite too.”

“Figures,” Rhodey says with a grin, remembering an airport and a ‘really old movie’ and a ‘How old is this guy?’ “We got some _stories_ about this film, little lady.”

“She likes the hyperspace bits,” Tony says, sitting on the couch. “Like it hypnotises her, or something. And then she’s wide awake again.”

“Sound familiar?”

“Yeah,” Tony says, his smile just a little forced, a little pained, “yeah, it does.”

* * *

“Uncle Rhodey! Uncle Rhodey!”

Of course she wants him when he’s just sat down with a coffee. Three years old, talking almost perfectly, and entirely in charge.

“You’d better listen to the little miss,” Tony says with a grin. “She rules the roost around here. Definitely her mother’s daughter.”

“Typical,” Rhodey mutters, but heaves himself off the sofa and out onto the back porch. “What’s up, little lady?”

“Come on!” Morgan grabs his hand, tugging him towards the lake. “You gotta look at this.”

“What is it?”

“Look!” Morgan points to something at the edge of the water. “Look at the ducklings!”

It’s cute, Rhodey has to admit. Five little balls of fluff, brown with dark yellow streaks, waddling in an unsteady line down the shore. The mother stares at Rhodey for a minute, then quacks and hops into the lake. The ducklings follow, chirping. 

“Yeah, that’s adorable.”

“Me an’ Daddy saw them the other day. I said we need to name them.”

“And did you?”

“Uh-huh. They’re Pepper and Tony, ‘cause that’s Mommy and Daddy’s names, and Happy and Rhodey. And that one–“ she points to the duckling swimming out in front, feathers sticking up awry on his head, “–is Peter. His secret identity is Spidey-duck.”

Rhodey has to bite his lip to keep from roaring with laughter. “Does he fight lakeside crime at night?”

“Yup!”

“Well, good for him. Guess he’s a brave little duck.”

“One day he might leave home and help save the world! That’s where Peter is. Daddy said.”

“Yeah,” Rhodey says, his throat suddenly tight, “yeah, he might.”

* * *

“‘Nother story!” Morgan demands, her stuffed zebra hitting Rhodey’s legs with a thwack.

“Another? Isn’t it your bedtime, little lady?”

“More Peter stories.”

“Morgan,” Tony says, appearing from nowhere. “What do we say?”

Morgan sighs, looking extremely put-upon. “‘Nother story, _please_.”

Rhodey looks up at his friend. “Do you want to…?”

“No, you’re doing great.”

“If it’s not my place–“

“You knew him too.” Tony settles on the couch beside Rhodey, only a hint of pain in his eyes where once, it would have consumed him entirely. “You want another Peter story from Uncle Rhodey, Morgana?”

“Yeah!”

“All right, then.” Rhodey thinks back, realising suddenly he can remember that last day, those last hours, without the stab of grief rendering him useless. “You ever heard how smart he was? ‘Cause he was _so_ smart. As smart as Daddy.”

“No, he was smarter,” Tony says.

“See? He was really clever. I’m gonna tell you about the time he thought of something not even Bruce Banner could.”

Morgan watches him, eyes wide and alight with wonder. Rhodey isn’t religious or spiritual in the slightest, but he could swear it was Peter looking back at him.

* * *

Something collides with Rhodey’s legs the instant he steps out of the car. He laughs. “Careful, little lady.”

“You’re under arrest!” she cries, her voice a little muffled.

Rhodey glances down and his chest clenches. She has the Spider-Man mask pulled over her face. “Oh. Where’d you get that, huh?”

“In the garage.”

“You go in your daddy’s lab? Did you ask?”

“No, but I’m not _not_ allowed.”

Yeah, I see you, Pete. “Can’t really argue with that. You being Spider-Man?”

“He’s the coolest superhero ever!” 

“Sure is.” _Was_.

“Morgan!” Tonys voice calls from the house. “Give your Uncle Rhodey a minute before you jump all over him.”

“Daddy!” Morgan yells, and tears off towards the front door.

“Morgan–“ Rhodey starts. Too late. Tony steps out on the porch.

“Daddy, I’m Spider-Man!”

“Oh,” Tony says softly. He stares for a long second, then bends down and picks her up, rests her on his hip. “So you are.” He pulls the mask off, so careful, so gentle, and smooths her staticky hair down as she giggles. “Thanks for looking after that for me, Maguna. Go inside, Mommy has your lunch.”

Rhodey walks up the porch steps. Tony has the mask in both hands, staring at it with faraway eyes. “You okay, man?”

“Yeah,” Tony says, and clears his throat. “Should’ve guessed she’d find this eventually. She already has those – Peter’s little Iron Man costume. Runs around with the repulsors on. I’ll send you pictures.”

Rhodey doesn’t say anything, just puts a hand on Tony’s shoulder, and they walk into the house together.

* * *

He’s in space when he gets the call. Fucking space. With Nebula, who’s exactly as terrifying as she looks, but also not. She softens sometimes. 

And Rhodey will forever be grateful for her keeping Tony alive for three weeks, starving, stranded, hanging on the agony of not knowing, of the possibility that everyone he loved might be dead. And she carried him through it.

Steve calls him. Of all people. Only a week after that conference with Natasha and the others, after he’d had to tell her that Barton had done it again, that he’d slaughtered a building of people, most of them just for the crime of being there. Space was a welcome escape after that.

_“Rhodey,”_ Steve says, and stops.

“Yes? Rogers?”

_“We think – we might have a way.”_

“A way.”

_“To fix it. Bring them back.”_

“Are you shitting me?”

_“No, I’m not. We thought Lang was dead, but he – he wasn’t. He thinks he can do time travel.”_

_Holy fuck_. Rhodey shares a glance with Nebula. “Have you told Tony?”

_“We asked. He wouldn’t.”_

“He _wouldn’t_?”

_“He said he has a second chance, and he isn’t blowing it.”_

And how can Rhodey blame him for that? Still, “I’ll talk to him when I get back.”

(they’ve barely talked about Peter in months, only really on his birthday and the anniversary, and Rhodey’s going to hate himself for dredging up the pain but they need Tony, they need him)

_“So you’re coming?”_

“‘Course I’m coming, dumbass.”

“And me,” Nebula says darkly. “My father will not win. If there is any way to undo what he did, I will do it.”

“You heard the blue lady. See you in a few. We’re not far out.”

_“Good. Thank you.”_ Steve pauses and takes a breath like he’s going to say something else, but Nebula leans over and ends the call.

“It was getting awkward,” she says flatly, but there’s a slight upturn in her mouth that suggests she knows exactly what she’s done.

“I can see why Tony likes you.”

“One jump to Earth,” she tells him, “and then we can begin fixing what Thanos did.”

* * *

“Regular-sized man?” is the first thing Rhodey hears when he enters the Compound. “That the best you can do?”

“Tony,” Rhodey breathes. “Steve said you weren’t coming.”

“Rogers isn’t the boss of me.” Tony hugs him tightly. “And – well, call it fate, maybe, but it was my turn to wash up, and I just happened to splash some water, and when I was wiping it up, I saw a picture. Of me and the kid. The one with his internship certificate.”

“Oh,” Rhodey says. So Peter has brought himself up. Saves Rhodey a job, at least.

“If I got all this life and he didn’t, how’s that fair? He deserves to be more than a bedtime story for Morgan.” Tony pauses. “And maybe that’s selfish, not doing it for everyone else we lost, for what the whole world lost, but…”

“I think it’s the most selfless thing you can do,” Rhodey says. “To love someone that much.”

“I do,” Tony says. “Love him, I mean. I didn’t ever realise – it felt different – until Morgan was born, and I – I love her like I love him.”

Rhodey knows him well enough to see regret simmering just under the surface. The fear of being like his father after all. “You’ll tell him that. I know you will.”

“I hope so,” Tony says faintly.

(Rhodey always tries to shake the feeling that his friend is living on borrowed time, like the universe is saving him for something bigger than they can comprehend)

“And I see you’ve been hanging out with Bluebell in my absence. Bet I’m still the favourite.”

“Are you, hell.” Rhodey pauses. “What did Pepper say?”

“She always knows what I need,” Tony says. “Besides, _they_ needed me. Brucie was fucking it up big time before I got here. Thy definitely turned Lang into a baby, even if no one will admit it to my face.”

“Hold up – a baby?”

* * *

Natasha shows up with Barton, and Rhodey watches him warily. There’s something…wrong about him, something off, something broken and dangerous.

He wonders how much damage Loki really did all those years ago. Losing his wife, his children, even Wanda, seems to have flipped a switch, pushed him over the edge. 

But they send him through the time machine and he comes back, in one piece but sobbing and clutching a baseball glove, leaning into Natasha’s embrace, and there’s the same hope in his eyes as Tony’s. 

It’s going to work. 

* * *

They go. They return. Natasha doesn’t.

Despite their friendliness before Steve’s call, despite them bonding even more on Morag, Nebula is unnervingly quiet.

* * *

“Got the Stones on the gauntlet,” Tony says, joining Rhodey on the couch. “That was half the battle.”

“So…it’s ready?”

“Yeah. Shit, yeah, it’s happening.” Tony runs a shaky hand over his face. “I just wish Nat hadn’t – if we’d thought of getting more Pym particles before we started – we can’t afford another fuck-up. If we got this close and then it doesn’t…”

“When have you ever built something that didn’t work?”

“I built the kid suits to keep him safe.”

“A suit couldn’t have stopped what happened.” Rhodey grips his shoulder. “We’re close, man. Still don’t understand why we couldn’t just strangle some fuck-ugly baby somewhere, but we’ve done it this way and it’s going to work. I have a good feeling.”

Tony stares at him for a long moment, something swimming in his eyes. “I love you, Rhodey. And tell the kid–“

“I’m not telling the kid shit except what _I_ need him to hear, ‘cause you’re gonna tell him yourself.” _Don’t think about it. Don’t entertain it_. They’re all coming out of this okay. “Now, we better get back to the lab before Mr Cheez Whiz gets too drunk and decides to try the shiny glove on.”

“When this is over, I’m getting him therapy,” Tony decides.

* * *

Bruce snaps. Clint’s phone starts buzzing on the table. 

“Hey, guys?” Lang calls. He’s staring out the window. “I think it worked.”

Tony meets Rhodey’s eyes, hope and relief written all over his face.

_“Boss,”_ FRIDAY says, _“I have reconnected with Karen. The Iron Spider suit appears to be in Wakanda.”_

“Connect comms,” Tony says hoarsely. “Pete?”

**A** pause, then, _“Mr Stark–?”_

And then the room explodes.

* * *

Rhodey wakes up in the dark.

Pinned down. Stuck. Someone yelling for help nearby.

“Canopy, canopy, canopy!” he cries, long-ingrained instinct taking over. The suit wrestles itself open, and he realises as soon as he tries to move that his braces are shot to shit.

_Gonna need another suit_. He rolls, lands in something wet. _And gonna need to do something about that water pouring in from somewhere._

“New suit!” he yells, hoping the comms aren’t fried, and drags himself over to whoever’s shouting.

He sees Bruce first, shoulders braced, burnt arm hanging loose by his side, holding up a piece of the building like goddamn Atlas. Rocket is pinned under some fallen debris, little legs scrabbling as he tries to get free. The water’s rising.

“Rhodey, Rocket, get out of here! I can’t hold it much longer.”

“What happened?” Rhodey pants. “Was it the Stones?”

“Does it matter? Get me outta here! I can’t breathe.”

Rhodey rolls his eyes and reaches out, grabs a length of pipe, levers the rubble up with all his upper body strength, just enough for Rocket to wriggle free.

He flops back, exhausted. He can’t stand. They’re still trapped. Water is gushing in. If the water’s falling – lake water, most likely, then they’re below it. Underground. Shit.

“Hello? Hello, does anybody copy? We’re on the lower level, it’s flooding.”

No answer. So no comms, or they’re all in just as much shit as he is. 

“We’re drowning! Does anybody copy? Mayday!”

The suit’s not going to get here in time, if at all. He’s going to die deep under the ground, going to drown with a raccoon and a Hulk. God.

But they did it. The kid’s back. Peter’s out there somewhere, alive.

Rhodey sucks in a breath, closes his eyes – and jerks as huge fingers close around his chest.

* * *

There’s an army waiting for them.

Row upon row of aliens, their weapons glowing purple. Huge ships. Snarling Chituari. Thanos, not quite as dead as Rhodey remembers him being.

But on their side – holes in space, sparking orange. A whole Wakandan army marching through. The Avengers – Barnes, Wanda, _Sam_. Sorcerers, wielding bright glowing shields. Pepper in the suit Tony made for her. 

And Steve is holding Mjolnir. Of course he is.

Rhodey jumps off Scott’s hand, feeling out his new suit. Rocket perches on his shoulder, gun cocked.

“Avengers!” Steve bellows. Everything quiets. “Assemble.”

They charge.

* * *

It’s worse than chaos.

But there, a quiet moment, the eye of a swirling storm: Tony and Peter holding each other tightly, lost in their own world. Rhodey lands, loathe to disturb them, but there’s a very real battle happening around them and they can’t afford to lose focus.

Tony is beaming, forehead pressed to Peter’s, eyes shimmering with tears. He’s saying something Rhodey can’t hear, something only for Peter, whose face is cradled between his hands. 

“Look sharp,” Rhodey warns them, and they pull apart. 

“Rhodey!” Peter cries, happy as anything, like they’ve bumped into each other in the grocery store. Not a minute older than when they lost him.

“Hey, kid.”

“Oh, my God, that was _wild_ , like, I blinked and you weren’t there anymore – and Falcon was telling me to wake up, and Mr Stark was on my comms but then he wasn’t, and then this guy came doing this yellow sparkly thing like the one we all came through and he was like ‘it’s been five years’–“

“Come here, Pete,” Rhodey says quietly, and pulls him into a hug.

Peter comes easily, wrapping his arms around Rhodey’s huge suit. Rhodey tries to solidify this in his memory: this hug. Not the last one. 

Peter mumbles something, a muffled, “I’m hugging War Machine.”

“And you’ve earned it,” Rhodey says as he releases him. “Little honorary Avenger.”

“I still can’t believe you did that without me,” Tony mutters. 

“Hey, he’s still a probie. You can induct him when he’s a full team member.”

“Gonna be at least after college.”

“But that’s _ages_ ,” Peter whines. Honestly, he could be throwing a tantrum and Rhodey would still be glad to see him.

“Hey,” Tony says gently, “we have time. No shortcuts. You got your whole life ahead of you.”

Jesus Christ, the kid’s _alive_.

Peter searches Tony’s face, and his eyes widen, as if he’s found something he wasn’t expecting. “Was it really five years?”

“Yeah,” Tony croaks, “yeah, it was.”

“Is that why you have all that grey stuff in your hair?”

Rhodey howls with laughter.

* * *

They’re forced apart soon after that, the battle tearing them away from each other. The Chituari and their creatures keep coming, seemingly endless, swarming the field. All of Thanos’ minions are back, too, stalking the battlefield.

Tony and Pepper fight back to back, almost unstoppable. The gauntlet gets passed around the field like a football – Clint, T’Challa, and then–

_“I got it!”_

_Dammit, kid._

_“Activate instant kill!”_

Wanda explodes with red light. Rhodey can almost feel the seething rage, the grief – because to her, it just happened. She just watched Thanos tear the Stone from Vision’s head.

The ships start firing, one hit after another, and a blast sends Rhodey tumbling sideways, upside down, completely disoriented. He hears Pepper call for help near the lake, but by the time he struggles to his feet, the sorcerers have thrown up their shields and he’s trapped under an impenetrable magic umbrella.

_“I got this,”_ Peter is panting, _“I got this – uh, I don’t got this.”_

_Can’t take off. Can’t get to him._

_“Somebody help!”_

_“Get to Spider-Man!”_ Tony yells. “ _He has the Stones!”_

_“Hey, Queens.”_ That’s Steve, quiet, determined. _“Heads up.”_

Out of the corner of his eye, Rhodey sees Mjolnir shooting through the air, with a kid and a gauntlet attached. Another blast hits, Peter starts to fall, but Pepper swoops in with a flash of purple.

_“Hang on, I got you, kid.”_

The blasts keep coming, faster and faster. Rhodey’s comms are full of screams – Rocket, Thor – and Peter. He doesn’t need to look to know Tony’s hearing the same.

And then nothing. The missiles stop hitting the ground. Peter is silent.

“FRIDAY, what’re they firing at?” Tony murmurs, and Rhodey glances up to see he’s right, they didn’t stop, they just found a new target.

Carol Danvers shatters the ship, breaks it in half, glowing like the sun, and Rhodey suddenly feels a little less hopeless.

* * *

He blinks, and when he looks up, Carol is beside him, the gauntlet tucked under one arm. Six Stones gleaming in the dim light.

“Danvers.”

“Rhodes.”

She has the gauntlet. Peter was the last one to have it, before the bombs started falling and his panicked cries were cut off. Where did she get it? Is the kid okay?

“What do we do?” she asks before Rhodey can voice any of that. “I can’t get this thing to the van, and believe me, I’ve tried. If there even is a van anymore, and I’m not overly hopeful.”

“Whatever happens, _he_ can’t get it,” Rhodey says, hoping she understands the urgency in his voice, “and, no matter what, neither can Tony.”

She nods, lips pursed, and then smirks. “If we can’t get rid of this, we gotta get rid of all them.”

“How?”

“These Stones do anything you want them to, right?”

“Can you–?” Rhodey swallows. “Will you be able to survive it? Not everyone can wield Infinity Stones.”

Carol’s smirk, impossibly, grows wider. “Come on,” she says, “I _am_ an Infinity Stone.”

* * *

As quickly as it started, it ends. 

Danvers raises the gauntlet and takes off, a glowing beacon of light, and wastes no time in slipping it on. Thanos screams, a sound of pure rage that drowns out her cry of pain.

She snaps. The world goes white.

* * *

Rhodey sees Pepper first, her hair loose, a cut on her eyebrow. They stumble towards each other, grateful that they made it, and hoping everyone else did too.

“Tony,” Rhodey says, at the same time as Pepper blurts, “The kid.”

There’s Steve, and Thor, Sam, Barnes, Bruce, T’Challa, Shuri, Nebula, Wanda, Rocket. People and aliens Rhodey’s never seen before in his life. No Tony. No Peter. 

“Where’d you last see them?”

“I saw the kid – his suit was damaged, I think.” Pepper takes a shaky breath. “He had the gauntlet when they started firing – it was like they were aiming for him.”

So after Rhodey had seen them, but still long enough ago to be concerning. Enough time for something to have happened. “Hey!” he calls. “I need a headcount! Who’s missing? Anyone seen Tony or Spider-Man?”

“They will be fine.” Rhodey turns and comes face to face with Stephen Strange, a disarmingly calm expression on his face. “This is the one.”

“The future,” Rhodey says. “The one we win.”

“The one we _have_ won, Colonel.”

(they won they won they won)

(the kid the kid the kid)

Rhodey turns away, staggering on unsteady legs over debris and piles of ash, searching, searching. And then he sees the familiar red and blue.

Peter’s nose is bleeding and he’s favouring one leg so badly he might as well be hopping. His face is covered in scrapes and bruises – Rhodey wonders how many of those came from the fight in Manhattan, or Wakanda, or the battle they’ve just won – and he looks dazed.

But he made it. He’s alive.

“Rhodey?” Peter says quietly, almost a whimper. He starts hobbling faster, as if desperate to reach him. 

Like in Wakanda, Rhodey realises, because to Peter, he’s safe. He’s trusted. “Here,” he murmurs, catching the kid when he stumbles. “Come on, you’re good. Anything serious I need to know about?”

“Don’t think so,” Peter says, hunching over slightly. Almost certainly has broken ribs, then. What a liar. “What happened? There was a group of them swarming me, and my comms were down, and all of a sudden they just – disappeared.”

“We won,” Rhodey says. “It’s over.”

“Cool. That’s cool. Really good. Uh, I want to nap. For a year. Maybe longer. And, like, three cheeseburgers.”

“I’m buying you all the cheeseburgers you want,” Rhodey says, “and I’m sending Happy to fetch ‘em. He’d go, too. Missed you like hell. We all did.”

“I didn’t mean–“

“Kid. C’mon. How was it your fault?”

Peter shrugs and starts to say something, but it’s cut off by Tony yelling his name and pulling him into a tight, desperate hug.

Tony. Alive. Peter. Alive. 

Rhodey sits heavily on a pile of debris, suddenly exhausted. They did it. They fucking pulled it off. How, he doesn’t have a clue. 

“Mr Stark, ow–“

“It’s been five years. I have a lot of hugs to catch up on.”

“Huh. Guess we’re there.”

“Duh, we’re there.” Tony pulls back, kisses Peter’s forehead. “Do not ever do something like that to me again. _Ever_.”

“What?” Peter says. “I stayed close to the ground.”

* * *

The lakehouse isn’t quiet today.

It’s full of every kind of person – and alien. It’s buzzing with shouts of joy, raucous laughter. Sparks flying as sorcerers cast spells every which way. Glasses clinking. 

It’s euphoric, and it’s a lot, so Rhodey takes himself and his beer out to the porch and sits, revelling in the quiet, until he hears the door open behind him and turns to see the kid, twisting his fingers together.

“Hi,” Peter says, almost awkward. “Um…”

“What’s up, kid?”

“I don’t remember a lot of – of going,” Peter says, and Rhodey’s stomach drops. “But I know it took…long. And I was terrified, but you were there, and – you helped.”

“Well then I’m glad, Pete–“

“Thank you,” Peter says, sincerity in every inch of him, every word. “Thank you for everything you did earlier – it was today for me. All of it.”

“Hell of a long day, huh?”

“Really long day.”

Rhodey gestures with his head and Peter flops down on the bench beside him. His cuts and bruises are already healing but he looks bone-deep exhausted.

“Happy keeps crying whenever he sees me,” Peter says. “It’s nice to know he cares, I guess, but…weird. So much is different.”

“Yeah.” Rhodey can guess what the biggest thing is. “You meet Morgan?”

“I met her, yeah. She didn’t seem to need an introduction.” If anything, the kid’s bewildered.

“You were never forgotten,” Rhodey says. “Not once.” He wonders if Peter knows her middle name yet.

“Oh,” Peter murmurs.

“Peter–“ Rhodey breaks off. “Shit, kid, I’m so sorry.”

“What?” Peter’s head shoots up, eyes wide in shock. “For – for what?”

“You shouldn’t have had to go through that. We should’ve been better – _I_ should’ve been better–“

“Please stop,” Peter begs, “because Mr Stark’s already done all this, and it really wasn’t either of your fault. No one’s fault, actually, except Thanos. It was all him. I don’t blame you, and I never could so – yeah.”

Rhodey smiles, although he’s sure it looks a little sad. “You’re a good kid, Pete.”

They don’t say anything else after that. Rhodey watches the shadows of leaves and branches dance on the grass. Peter closes his eyes and conks out.

Yeah, he’s earned a nap.

Tony all but bursts out of the house after a while, panic in his eyes, in the jerky way he moves, that dissipates the instant he sees Peter. Relief, then soft warmth. “What’d you do to my kid?”

“Your rural lifestyle did this,” Rhodey says, strictly half-volume. “Prime lulling kids off to sleep shit. He’s had a long fucking day.”

“God – yeah, I guess he has.” Tony squeezes himself into the remaining space on the bench, shoves a cushion behind his spine. “All right, kiddo. Let’s make this more comfortable, shall we?”

Rhodey watches with amusement as Tony gently pulls Peter into his arms and settles him so he’s sitting in a way that won’t hurt his neck. Like he’s forgotten Peter isn’t four or tiny or manoeuvrable or Morgan, but that doesn’t seem to matter.

“I forgot some things,” Tony says quietly. “I swore I wouldn’t, but…I did. Little things, like how his hair gets after he’s been in the suit. How quickly his scrapes heal.”

“That’s okay. That doesn’t make you a bad person. Besides.” Rhodey nods at the kid, sound asleep on Tony’s shoulder. “Doesn’t matter now.”

“Does it make me a bad parent, though?” There’s a catch in Tony’s voice, a vulnerability.

“No,” Rhodey says firmly. “How could it? You kept him with you, passed him on to Morgan, and almost literally moved heaven and earth to bring him back.”

“Mm.” Tony’s phone buzzes and he pulls it out one-handed, doing his best not to jostle Peter. He stares at the message for a minute before snorting. “Wow. Okay.”

“What’s that?”

“Sent Hap to find May Parker. She must’ve been home when she – vanished, and obviously the apartment has since been…reassigned.”

“Oh no.”

“So, in Happy’s words, they just got done convincing everyone who lives there now that she’s no one’s mistress, or a ghost, so they’re on their way.”

“But she’s slightly – how do I say this? – homeless.”

“If only she knew a billionaire with an attachment to her kid,” Tony drawls. 

“Where do I find one of those?”

“What, a kid?” Tony moves his hand through Peter’s hair. “I found this one on YouTube. Comes from some backwater place called Queens.”

Peter shifts. “Why’re y’slandering my b’rough?”

“How long have you been awake?” Tony says, startled.

“Dunno. ‘S’Rhodey here?” Peter turns his head slightly, squinting against the sun. “Hey.”

“Hey, kid. You’ve been out for about half an hour. Power nap.”

“Ugh.”

“Yeah, I feel you.”

“May’s on her way,” Tony says.

“Nooo, she’s mad at me. Went to Africa without a permission slip.”

Tony laughs. “If anything, kid, she’s gonna be mad at Rhodey.”

“‘Kay.”

“Throw me under the bus, why don’t you?” Rhodey mutters.

Peter doesn’t reply, and judging from Tony’s fond expression, he’s fallen asleep again.

Shit. Scary aunt. “Do…do we tell her I made him an Avenger?”

Tony is silent for a long moment. Too long. Uncomfortably long. “Not if you value your manhood.”

* * *

Steve goes to put the Stones back and returns with Natasha in tow. Rhodey doesn’t care how he did it, but he did it. 

Somehow, some-fucking-how, they all made it out. 

* * *

“Peter, come on! Come on!”

“I’m coming, Mongoose!” Peter shoots Rhodey an amused glances as he hops off the porch, laces still undone. “You can tell who’s in charge around here.”

Rhodey shakes his head with a laugh and watches Morgan take Peter’s hand and drag him down towards the lake. 

It’s been ten months since they won. Nearly a year. Ten months since the world shifted and settled back into place. Ten months of having Peter back. Ten months of finally, truly having Tony back.

Pepper steps outside, one hand shielding her eyes. “Kids?”

“Down by the lake.” 

“Ah.” She settles into her favourite porch chair, the one best positioned to catch the late afternoon light. “Happy and May have gone to pick up dinner. I think they…wanted some alone time.”

“Well, Peter’s gonna be thrilled.”

“Oh, I know. Tony’s been laughing about it all day.”

“What have I been laughing at?” Tony appears, sits next to Rhodey on the bench.

“Peter’s new step-uncle.”

Tony Stark, billionaire, genius, father, superhero, lets out the most undignified snort Rhodey has ever heard.

“Don’t tease the poor boy, Tony,” Pepper says, exasperated. 

“If I need to tease him, it will _not_ be for that. I have plenty of material that isn’t Hogan making the moves on May Parker.”

Pepper smacks him in the arm at the same time as Rhodey does. 

“Ow!”

It’s quiet for a moment. Sunlight dances over the lake.

“What are we looking at, M?”

“You have to wait!”

“Spider-Man beholden to a five-year-old, huh?” Rhodey says.

“Never thought I’d see the day.” Tony grins ruefully. “Literally, I guess.”

“But you said _fuck you_ to the laws of physics.”

“I did,” Tony says. “I did do that.”

They’re interrupted by Morgan squealing, jumping up and down as she tugs on Peter’s arms. “Look! Look at the ducklings!”

“Oh!” Peter crouches down, watching them make their way down to the water. “Aw, look at them!”

“Hey, Morg!” Rhodey calls. “Tell him about Spidey-duck!”

“What’s – what?” Peter says. “What’s Spidey-duck?”

“One year I named a duckling after you. He was the bravest one. He had funny feathers.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah!”

“That’s awesome.”

“Ohh, look – look at that one that just landed on the water.” Morgan’s pointing out at the lake. “He has a tufty head!”

Peter makes a cooing sound.

“Just like the Peter duck,” Morgan tells him. “Do you think it’s him? He came back! Just like you!”

“Maybe,” Peter says, so quiet Rhodey almost doesn’t catch it.

They watch the ducks for a while – _full circle_ , Rhodey thinks fondly – before wandering back up towards the house. Peter squeezes into the nonexistent space between Tony and Rhodey on the bench, wriggling to make himself fit.

“What are you?” Tony asks in mock despair.

“Your problem. And hungry. When’s dinner?”

“Soon.”

“Okay.” Peter rests his head on Tony’s shoulder, his arm brushing Rhodey’s. “Can I have a snack?”

“No, you menace.”

“Rhodey, can I have a snack?”

“Aha,” Rhodey says. “I am the favourite. The underminer of good parenting. The source of snacks. The cool uncle–“

“No,” Tony says loudly. “No, no, no. Rhodey, stop bribing my kid. No snacks before dinner. He’ll ruin his appetite.”

“I have yet to encounter something that could ruin this kid’s appetite,” Rhodey retorts. “He’s a black hole. A bottomless pit.”

“Not the point. You’re both setting a bad example for Morgan.”

Rhodey reaches out and ruffles Peter’s hair, ignoring his yelp of protest, and lets his arm drop around the kid’s shoulders.

“Did you see that, Daddy?” Morgan says, making herself at home on Pepper’s lap. “The Peter duck came back.”

“Found his way home,” Tony says, dropping a kiss on the top of Peter’s head. “What a brave little Spider-duck.”

“Sounds like an animal from _Avatar_ ,” Peter mumbles.

“If I pretend to know what that means, will it make you feel better?”

“So uncultured.” Peter stares out at the trees, expression content. 

“That’s me. An old man. Super out of it. What do kids these days even talk about?”

“They talk about how cool Spider-Man is, isn’t that right, M?”

“Yeah!”

“Liar,” Tony says with a great amount of fondness. “I saw you trending last week for putting those baby pigeons back in their nest.”

“And that’s why I’m the coolest.”

“Uh-huh.”

Morgan dozes off on Pepper’s lap. Peter settles under Rhodey’s arm, his head still on Tony’s shoulder, and they watch the sun set over the lake.

**Author's Note:**

> monireh made some _amazing_ art for this fic [that you can find here](https://akillerqueenwrites.tumblr.com/post/631233408239124480/i-have-been-staring-at-this-for-ten-minutes-now-i)
> 
> i'm on tumblr at [akillerqueenwrites](https://akillerqueenwrites.tumblr.com), or my main blog [akillerqueenyouare](https://akillerqueenyouare.tumblr.com). come say hi, ask questions, leave prompts or just yell at me. i've also made a twitter, [@killerqueenao3](https://twitter.com/killerqueenao3) , if any of you want to talk to me there (it's mostly pictures of my dog). thank you for reading!


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